Democrats kick off prime time Jan. 6 hearings

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot laid out more evidence Thursday as it sought to prove the violence was a coordinated effort to overturn the 2020 election. Thursday night marked the first of six public hearings that will resume next week. Former President Donald Trump dismissed the investigation during the hearing on his Truth Social media app, reiterating that Jan. 6 “represented the greatest movement in the history of our country.” Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee tweeted, “All. Old. News.”

What were some takeaways from the hearing? The panel included the video testimony of former Attorney General William Barr, who said he told Trump that his claims of a stolen election were unwarranted. Trump’s daughter Ivanka said she accepted Barr’s view of alleged election fraud. The audience in the hearing room gasped as Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, the panel’s vice chair, said when Trump heard the mob was calling for former Vice President Mike Pence to be hanged, he said Pence likely “deserves it.” The panel also heard from Jeremy Bertino, a member of the nationalist group Proud Boys, who said the group’s membership “tripled, probably,” after Trump said they should “stand back and stand by” during a presidential debate.

Dig deeper: Read Esther Eaton and Carolina Lumetta’s report in The Stew on the quest for accountability after the Capitol attack.